Demonstrators protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, Dec. 28, 2024. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90
Each week, protesters flood the streets of Israel’s largest cities, calling for the release of hostages in Gaza. After 450 days of war, the collective cries from the organized demonstrations are only getting louder.
Saturday night was no exception. Thousands of protesters gathered in solidarity, demanding a deal that would bring all the hostages home. Many believe that anything less than the simultaneous release of every hostage would be a “death sentence” for those still captive.
At a press conference before the start of the rallies, several hostage families spoke out with an urgent message for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Yehuda Cohen, the father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to “deceive” Trump into believing he was genuinely invested in reaching a deal with Hamas.
“Dear President Trump, Netanyahu is trying to deceive you. Ending the war and returning all the hostages is in the interest of the State of Israel,” Cohen said.
“You might be the last person who is able put pressure on Netanyahu. Do not compromise on a partial deal that will become a death sentence for the remaining hostages and will not bring about an end to the war,” he added.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, has been advocating for her son’s release from Gaza since she was returned home to Israel in the November hostage deal. Recently, she has garnered attention with her passionate plea to Netanyahu to release her son from the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, and warned him she’d be his “worst nightmare” if her son came home in a body bag.
She addressed Netanyahu once again during the press conference, accusing him of “rushing to torpedo” the latest efforts to reach a hostage deal.
With winter temperatures continuing to plummet, Zangauker accused the prime minister and Defense Minister Israel Katz of “sitting in heated rooms and bragging about continuing the war, while my Matan and the other hostages are freezing and rotting in the tunnels.”
“The blood is on your hands,” she added. “End this war and get my Matan, and all the hostages, out of that hell.”
As she concluded her remarks, the crowd chanted, “Netanyahu don’t forget, history won’t forgive.”
Channel 12 reported that Israel and Hamas could agree to a “limited” hostage deal which would be seen as a gesture of goodwill before Trump begins his second term as president, but the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) rebuffed this report as “a complete lie.”
Over the past week, Israel and Hamas have accused each other of delaying the progress in the hostage deal negotiations, which had recently seemed to gain new momentum.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum reminded those attending the rally Saturday night that while the deal would include any humanitarian cases, including women, elderly and those who are sick, all hostages qualify as “humanitarian” at this point.
As reported by The Times of Israel, “Israeli negotiators were reportedly dismayed by Netanyahu’s statement to The Wall Street Journal last weekend that he wouldn’t sign a deal that ends the war, and Katz’s statement from Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor on Wednesday that Israel would retain security control of the Strip, seeing them as likely to harden Hamas’s position.”
While the rally for the hostages was in full swing on Saturday night, the weekly gathering to protest the government, organized by the “Free in our Homeland” movement, began with a march from Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, referred to by activists as Democracy Square.
During the protest, Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s “Democrats” party, pledged to overthrow the government and replace it with “loyalists of Zionism and democracy.”
He slammed current government officials as running “toxic” propaganda that promotes “lies, racism and hatred.” Golan maintains it is “because they know that a state commission of inquiry will find them responsible for what happened on October 7, what happened before and what happened after.”
Following Golan’s speech, the legendary Israeli rock band T-Slam took the stage to perform their 1990 protest song “Face of the Nation,” in which a corrupt politician offers rewards to those who support him with their votes.
